Tradition
by richard the pedantic
Summary: This is the story of a young Libertarian cadet who must pay for her graduation with blood as she undergoes, 'The Trial'. Complete.
1. For tommorow we die

Tradition  
  
By Richamithrad the pedantic  
  
Disclaimer things: I don't own Freelancer, Microsoft or some such company does. A few of the characters are mine, the rest aren't. Enjoy.  
  
This shall be a short, short story, no more then to or three chapters.  
  
Cadet Valerie Adriano lay on her bed, unable to sleep, staring at the remarkably featureless ceiling of her cabin. West point military academy was, in her opinion, a truly remarkable and inspiring place, but it was about as impressive to look at as the cargo hold of an ALG Waste disposal freighter.  
  
What was inspiring, were the tales and recordings of previous battles and acts of courage and bravery which she was determined to emulate, no matter how corny it sounded when she said it to herself.  
  
Her thoughts then returned to the reason why she was unable to sleep; graduation was coming, but before it came, 'The Trial' as it was affectionately called by many a sadistic instructor had to be completed.  
  
This ritual involved every cadet in their final year being given a Patriot class light fighter and set loose into the Badlands to kill a Liberty Rogue or two, thus, theoretically, preparing them for anything which the future held. Unfortunately, there was always the possibility that a Liberty Rogue would kill a cadet or two, despite the fact that the cadets from West Point had received the best training from the best instructors in Sirius, and the Liberty Rogues were infamous for their pitiful flying abilities.  
  
"Screw this," she said to herself, "if I can't sleep I'll wander, maybe I'll wear myself out or something."   
  
Valerie's thoughts were silenced by the blinding effects of her cabin's lights on her eyes as she flicked her light switch. Shielding her eyes with one hand, she searched the floor for her clothes with the other.  
  
Her eyes adapted to the light quickly enough and the search became much simpler, once she was dressed, she switched off her lights and went forth into the corridors of the academy.  
  
The corridor was, as usual, deserted, due to the late hour, as was the lift which went to the bar. Valerie found that this made a refreshing change from the ten or so cadets who were usually crammed into the elevator with her.  
  
There were a large number of nervous, sleepless cadets in the bar. This was hardly a surprise. Her and her classmates had been worrying about the Trial for weeks, and since it was scheduled for tomorrow, it was no surprise that no one could sleep.  
  
"Hey Valerie, over here!" Boomed a voice from the far side of the room. Valerie turned her head to see the weary, smiling faces of her friends Eliza Peters and Mathias Cavallo.  
  
Valerie quickly stepped across the room and took a seat at the secluded table which her friends had chosen, morbidly, they had chosen a table which gave them a faint, yet unmistakable view of the Badlands, in which their prey, as opposed to their killers hopefully waited.  
  
"Couldn't sleep either?" came the rhetorical, conversation starting question from Eliza.  
  
"Can anyone?" Valerie replied whilst indicating to the other cadets in the room.  
  
"Sure," Mathias began with a hint of loathing in his voice, "surely you've heard the boastings of the overconfident, 'Greater then thou' types. I'm sure they're all fast asleep, having wet dreams of effortless victory."  
  
"The sad thing is," Eliza said with the same loathing that Mathias had used, "they've proclaimed their own greatness so much it's gone to their heads."  
  
"Well, I guess the best thing we can do is put up with it until a few dents in their hull prove to them that they're mere humans after all." Valerie added  
  
"Or we can go one better and hope for a malfunction in their life support systems" said Mathias with a slight grin. Grim laughter met this statement, as did more yawning. Eventually, the trio's fear gave way to their fatigue and they soon returned to their cabins.  
  
  
  
Morning came and Valerie's eyes shot open as she heard the ever annoying shrill of her alarm clock. Not wanting to be late for her hunting trip, she quickly donned her uniform and went forth into the corridor which was full of excited and nervous cadets. Everyone tried to look calmer then they actually felt and most failed miserably.  
  
In groups of twos, threes and fours the cadets entered the main briefing room, which was usually used for simulated missions, and took a seat.  
  
Valerie was soon joined by Eliza who, whilst struggling to keep a lid on her fear, was also vehemently guarding the seat next to her in anticipation of Mathias' arrival. Neither she nor Valerie said anything to each other; they simply smiled and wrestled their own fear. It was the same with Mathias when he arrived.  
  
Fear was easy to spot on the faces of most cadets, even the 'Greater then thou' types were revealing signs of worry under their cocky facial expressions.  
  
Eliza switched randomly from one random thought to another in an attempt to distract herself from her 'training mission,' as it was officially known. One thing or another however always sent her mind back to the trial.  
  
Valerie's brain was frantically trying to remember bits and pieces of advice and information from previous combat training lessons and simulations. It was the same technique that she had used to prepare for High school tests in the minutes before they began. This was bound to be harder then a Liberty history test however.  
  
The room fell silent at the arrival of Admiral Walter Evans, the current academy commandant; he was a tall man with greyish hair and a stare that could send shivers up and down your spine for a week. That same stare was responsible for silencing the last few tenacious talkers.  
  
"Good morning cadets," he began, "graduation is in sight, but as you know there is one final obstacle you must overcome before you earn your rightful places in the Liberty Navy. I'm sure that many of you are nervous, I did too when it was my turn, just remember, you have received the best and most thorough training you can hope to receive in Sirius, just keep your wits about you, and you'll be fine…"  
  
As the Admiral continued his motivational speaking, Valerie tried to reassure herself by remembering some of her simulated battles against Liberty Rogues and Outcasts that had been shuttled to West Point from Huntsville and Sugar land. The purpose of this was to provide a realistic combat experience.   
  
Valerie had beaten the shit out of every criminal she had fought in the simulator. However, they were all out of practice, and the fact that you can't die in a simulator has a habit of removing the fear of death from a combat situation, which robs it of some of its realism.  
  
"…Well, that's pretty much all I have to say. Captain Findley will now brief you on the mission specifics." Her attention returned to Evans as he took a seat at the left hand corner of the room. Part of her felt slightly guilty for ignoring the Admiral's speech, but this was quickly expelled as Captain Jason Findley activated the briefing room's display screen. As the images on the screen appeared, so did Valerie's fear about the upcoming trial.  
  
"Good morning cadets," Findley began, "after we launch we'll be taking the old trade lane to Ithaca research station."  
  
The mention of the word 'Ithaca' caused the screen to zoom in on an image of the dead, twisted mass of metal that was once Ithaca research station.  
  
"Each wing shall consist of three cadets and one of the combat veterans which we've gathered. Specific flight group assignments will be displayed on the screen after the briefing is over…"  
  
Sighs of relief met this sentence. The idea of having an experienced combat veteran with them in the inevitable battle was much more preferable to the idea of a handful of rookies trying their luck with the beasts of the badlands.  
  
"…There shall be 40 flight groups in total. Groups one to twenty shall launch at oh eight hundred hours, groups 21 to 40 shall launch at fifteen hundred hours. Each group will be given a specific, circular, six point patrol route. Until every cadet in your group has torched at least one criminal, you may not return to West Point."  
  
There were some cadets in the ranks who had hoped to avoid the grisly task of killing anyone and just get through their patrol in one piece; every one of them grimaced at this news.  
  
"Listen to your flight leader," Finley continued, "and do exactly as they tell you if you want to survive. Your performance in this exercise will strongly affect what posts you receive upon graduation," A grin found its way onto the captain's face, "so don't screw up. Questions?"  
  
"Yes sir," squeaked Michelle Simmons, a short, almost underweight cadet with a voice that was virtually ultrasound. More then one cadet had been known to laugh when they heard it on the radio.  
  
"Yes cadet."  
  
"I'm aware that this is unlikely sir, but if we come across the rumoured Liberty Rogue base in the badlands, what should we do?"  
  
"Isn't it obvious?" Findley remained silent for a few seconds, as if he was willing Simmons to answer his rhetorical question, "if you do find the Liberty Rogue base cadet, you are to follow your flight leader to a safe distance and wait for the re-enforcements that he or she will call in. Once they arrive, you are to help keep the fighters at bay whilst torpedo bombers torch the station to a grim memory of a migraine."  
  
"Yes sir."  
  
Simmons sat back down and Findley invited more questions, silence was his response.  
  
"Very well then, on behalf of myself, Admiral Evans, and the entire command staff, I wish you all good luck and good hunting. Dismissed.  
  
The display screen flickered suddenly and began to display a list of names, all of which were attached to a group of four. Every cadet in the room charged at the screen, regardless of the fact that a huge crowd would just make everything ten times more difficult then it needed to be.  
  
Valerie and Mathias had the good fortune to be placed in the same group. Eliza however was placed in a group with two people she hardly knew. Her group was commanded by Admiral Evans himself however, this was immensely re-assuring. Admiral Walter Evans was one of the most decorated officers of the Liberty navy, as well as a level 25 pilot.  
  
Valerie's group was commanded by Lieutenant Janet Carter, a disturbingly optimistic level 15 pilot. She wasn't the most awe inspiring of West Point's veteran collection, but she was no where near the worst either.  
  
The third cadet in their group was Nathan Remington. He was a quiet person who spent most off his time in his cabin. Originally, it was thought that this would make him a target for bullies, when he broke the nose of the only person to ever insult him however, opinions quickly changed.  
  
With the tension building within them, Valerie and Mathias walked with the other cadets in the first twenty groups to the equipment room.  
  
Fifteen minutes prior to launch, many cadets were on the flight deck conversing with friends or receiving last minute instructions from their Wing leaders. Valerie was searching the crowd for Mathias, whom she had lost in the sea of cadets.  
  
"Excuse me!" Shouted a voice directly behind her, she turned to find an unfamiliar looking male staring at her.  
  
"Are you Valerie Andriano?" The voice shouted over the noise of the crowd.  
  
"Yes," replied Valerie slowly, wondering who this stranger was, how he knew her name, and why he was talking to her.  
  
"Nathan Remington," he said with an obvious Bretonian accent whilst extending a hand, "I wanted to wish you and, uh, Mathew Crain I think, good luck before we launch.  
  
"Oh," Valerie replied whilst shaking the pre-offered hand, "Thank you and good luck yourself, by the way, it's Mathias Cavallo, not Mathew Crain."  
  
"I knew I got that wrong, I don't suppose you know where he is do you?"  
  
"Haven't a clue, I'm looking for him myself actually."  
  
"Oh well, good hunting, if you see him; wish him well from me would you?"  
  
With this, Nathan Remington disappeared into the crowd.  
  
"So that was Nathan Remington was it?" Mathias half shouted over Valerie's left shoulder, making her jump.  
  
"How long have you been there?" She asked irritably.  
  
"Not long," came the devious response.  
  
"Before he vanished," said Valerie who was searching the crowd for Nathan, but to no avail, "he wanted me to wish you luck. He's not at all what I expected."  
  
"Let me guess," Mathias said, "you expected a hissing, snarling beast you lashes out with his mighty claws when spoken to."  
  
"I doubt I'd say it with such eloquence, but yeah, that's more or less it."  
  
"So does everyone."  
  
The sudden noise from behind made Valerie jump again. Turning round, she saw that Nathan had re-appeared, and seemed to be holding back the urge to laugh. As Mathias and Valerie started to mumble some rushed apologies, he raised a hand.  
  
"Don't worry about it; the persona of a snarling beast is the price I pay for clouting that arsehole in the kite, not that it wasn't worth it mind you." There was a slight pause, "am I right in assuming that you are Mathias Cavallos then?"  
  
"It's Cavallo, and nice to meet you."  
  
"Likewise, speaking of, we'd better get to our ships."  
  
The three began to walk towards their assigned fighters, Mathias and Valerie received a momentary break from the fear by trying to figure out how walking to a fighter could be connected with it being nice to meet someone.  
  
To Valerie's surprise, Eliza was waiting for her on the flight deck. Valerie had expected her to have sealed herself in her cabin and bite her fingernails in anticipation of her own trial later today.  
  
But there she was, staring at one of the 'Patriots' as if inspecting it for dust. She appeared to be close to tears, but his it well when she saw her and Mathias however.  
  
"So," she began,  
  
"Hmm" came Valerie's equally insightful response.  
  
"Yep," Mathias added. After a few uncomfortable seconds, all three burst out laughing, which was closely followed by Eliza throwing her arms around Valerie, thus restricting her breathing.  
  
"Don't do anything stupid." She whispered tearfully.  
  
"We'll be fine Eliza," Valerie replied, "stop worrying about us and start worrying about your own trial."  
  
"Thanks, now I feel a lot better." Eliza said, trying to force as much emphasis into her sarcasm as she could muster. She actually managed to laugh, despite her own feelings of fear and concern. Mathias paced a hand on her shoulder after a few seconds of silence and tried his hand at being reassuring.  
  
"Besides," he said, "these are Liberty Rogues we're talking about; we've got a better chance of being killed by a toothbrush."  
  
Eliza spat out a small amount of laughter and released Valerie from her vice like grip.  
  
"We've got to get going," said Valerie with traces of concern finding their way into her voice, "you'll be alright won't you?"  
  
"Yeah," Eliza replied, feeling amused, concerned and slightly embarrassed, "I should be going too, good luck guys."  
  
"Same to you."  
  
Lieutenant Janet Carter was a short woman, and almost everything about her from her piercing stare to her overly bony fingers portrayed the image of someone who'd happily ram those fingers in your eyes.  
  
"Am I right in assuming that you three are Nathan Remington, Valerie Andriano and Mathias Cavallo?" She said.  
  
"Yes ma'am." Came the simultaneous response.  
  
"Good, now you've already been given the appropriate information by captain Findley, and our specific patrol route has been uploaded into our neural nets. Just don't loose your heads and follow my orders with slave-like devotion, and we'll come home just fine, and several criminals won't.  
  
Grim smiles were shared with all four members of "Group 14"; it was unspeakably difficult to feel sympathy for the criminals that infested the badlands, especially after hearing about some of the atrocities that they had committed, which was an all too common feature on the 'Colony News network'.  
  
"Any final questions before we set out?" Carter asked, Nathan, Mathias and Valerie all remained silent.  
  
"Good, well then, let's go shall we?"  
  
Valerie inhaled slowly and walked towards the disturbingly large, light fighter that had been assigned to her.  
  
Here goes nothing" were her thoughts as the canopy closed.  
  
What do you think? I'm not actually expecting many reviews as "Freelancer" isn't all that popular. Oh well, please review this is you read it.  
  
I'll update if it proves popular. 


	2. Out of the flight deck, into the fire

Thank you to Bob Rijke who reviewed chapter one. I know it's not much, but Admiral Evans and Captain Findley show up on West Point's information board, display thing. That and a brief mention of someone else is the closest thing I can get to a familiar face in this story.  
  
Chapter 2: Out of the flight deck, into the fire  
  
"Group 14 this is West Point, you are cleared to launch, good flying."  
  
Valerie watched West Point steadily grow smaller in her rear view display. She had no time to dwell on this however, as the voice of Janet Carter suddenly kicked in over the radio.  
  
"All right cadets, form up on my four, six and eight and follow me to the trade lane."  
  
"So far so good" thought Valerie after her first 10 seconds in space. She took a position directly behind Carter and watched with growing tension as the trade lane, which would fling her into the badlands at some unholy speed, grew ever closer.  
  
"Initiate trade lane sequence, now!" Carter said over the radio. A flick of a switch was followed by group 14 flying down the bright, shimmery cylinder of the usually inactive trade lane.  
  
Soon enough, the four arrived in the badlands. The dark, stormy and God forsaken appearance of the place only seemed to add to the fear that was felt by every cadet in the group had no shortage of to begin with.  
  
"Sensors show no enemy presence." Carter almost whispered. The quiet tone of her voice forced Valerie and Mathias to wonder if she was talking more to herself then to them. Nathan on the other hand had his eyes glued to his contact list, and didn't allow himself to entertain such thoughts.  
  
"Cadets, activate cruise engines and proceed to waypoint one. Mr. Cavallo, you take point."  
  
Valerie watched as Mathias fighter overtook Carters and positioned itself at the front of the group. She found that now she was in the badlands, much of her nervousness had begun to give way to objectiveness. Despite this, part of her mind was telling her that she would feel a lot better after she watched some Liberty Rogues explode.  
  
"Enemy contacts detected!"  
  
Valerie's head snapped round to face her contact list and nerve shattering anticipation filled her after hearing Mathias' message over the radio. Before the enemy entered her sensor range however, Mathias started speaking again.  
  
"It looks like two Liberty Rogue Bloodhounds."  
  
"Could be worse," she said quietly to herself, "that means two of us per Bloodhound; they're as good as dead."  
  
"Make that four." Mathias said.  
  
"That's not a problem," she began again, "one ship apiece and you outgun and outclass them."  
  
"Make that twenty!" Mathias virtually shrieked.  
  
Valerie stared at her contact list, desperately hoping that this was all some sick joke on Mathias' part. The list simply confirmed his report however, and furthermore, she could see all twenty sets of red brackets on her view-screen.  
  
Valerie's mind froze; this wasn't supposed to be happening. The Liberty Rogues were a motley collection of thugs who were supposed to be easier to defeat then a pestiferous Los Angeles Cummings weed.  
  
For a very short moment, she was reminded of the late captain Marcus Walker's warnings about underestimating the enemy. This was the result of such a mistake. A momentary flash of pain passed through Valerie as she remembered her deceased mentor. This was quickly banished however; this was no time to grieve. The truth of the situation was clear, and it was also heading straight for her, and before fear had a chance to set in, Janet Carter was shouting new orders over the radio.  
  
"All ships, run!"  
  
The word 'run' triggered a reflex action in all of the cadets and each of them re-activated their cruise engines and turned a very quick 180 degree turn.  
  
"…Repeat, to all Liberty Navy, Police and LSF ships, this is Lieutenant Janet Carter; we are being pursued by a fleet of twenty Liberty Rogue fighters, requesting…" There was some momentary static and then a different, deeper and almost terrifying voice emerged from the radio.  
  
"Did you honestly thing that we would simply bow to your will and die? We know all about this 'trial' of yours. What you don't seem to know however, is that the badlands belong to the Liberty Rogues and the Outcasts; they are not your personal hunting grounds. Your deaths and the deaths of those you brought with you will help to prove this point to the rest of Sirius."  
  
Valerie stared at the image of the Liberty Rogue on her HUD in sudden shock as she realised that this was the face of a man who was trying to kill her. Four years of academy training however, and the anger she felt at being forced to run by an enemy she had come to believe wholeheartedly was inferior, gave her the strength to focus her mind on more important matters, such as running, and more running.  
  
"I'm picking up a new group of signals." Mathias aid calmly, having seemingly recovered from the shock of seeing 20 enemy fighters. This amazed Valerie for a few moments. Mathias was one of the most emotional people she knew, for a few seconds, she remembered how he had once shouted at a lift's call button for not working. Her mind snapped back to reality shortly after it had left it however.  
  
"Four Outcast daggers" Mathias said in the same, eerily calm tone of voice.   
  
"All fighters follow me" said Janet Carter as she veered to the right so as to avoid the newcomers. The cadets followed suit shortly thereafter.  
  
"This is Navy patrol Delta 13," the sudden appearance of a friendly voice brought relief to Valerie that was surprisingly, almost frighteningly strong, especially considering the fact that she wasn't out of the metaphorical wood yet, "we are en route to assist you. We'll be there in five minutes, try to hold them off."  
  
Two similar messages, one from West point group 7, and another from LSF patrol Gamma 12, under the command of Lieutenant Commander Kendra Peterson arrived shortly after the first message, and a very different feeling began to swell inside of Valerie; Bloodlust.  
  
"Just a few more minutes," she told herself, "just a few more minutes and we'll be able to show these pathetic wankers that no part of Liberty space belongs to them. They are just a minor annoyance who'll wither and die when our forces finally learn the location of their base. After that, we'll hunt down the survivors one by one and, oh for the love of, WAKE UP VALERIE! We don't have time for this!"  
  
Such was the way of most of Valerie's present thoughts. It was hard to focus when all she wanted to do was watch as her lasers tore into a pirate's fighter. She only had to run for a few more minutes, but those minutes were filled with fear, anger and an overpowering desire for vengeance, and because of this, they were agonisingly long.  
  
"This is Navy patrol delta 13, engaging enemy."  
  
"West Point group 7, ready to assist."  
  
"This is LSF patrol Gamma 12, engaging hostiles."  
  
"This is freelancer Edison Trent, I'm here to help."  
  
"Acknowledged, good to see you," came the jubilant response from Janet Carter, "Cadets; take your pick."  
  
Valerie, Nathan and Mathias broke formation almost instantly and followed the nine Navy 'Defenders', ten 'patriots', and the one 'Eagle' into the wall of Liberty Rogue ships.  
  
The usually dark and lifeless badlands were lit up by the countless laser blasts. Valerie dodged the enemies' fire as best as she could by strafing left and right. The occasional hit damaged her shields so pitifully that it barely registered on her shield health display.  
  
Valerie passed her target and quickly swung round so as to position herself behind the slow, clumsy Bloodhound that she had chosen as a target.  
  
The two advanced 'starbeams' and the two 'lavablades' which constituted her ships weaponry, (with the exception of twenty five seeker mines,) were more then sufficient for the task ahead of them. Her target's shields fell within a matter of seconds. This was followed an instant later by the shock, joy and confussion that accompanied Valerie's first kill.  
  
The pirate simply exploded in the time it takes to blink. The pilot didn't even have time to blink. Valerie was too shocked to move for a few moments, a few hits to her shields quickly brought her back to reality however.  
  
Mathias could only feel frustration. The damaged Outcast he was pursuing continued to evade his fire, he only needed only one more good hit to destroy the pestiferous pirate, but this hit was proving to be hard to achieve. Fortunately for him however, the pirates were mainly focusing their efforts of the 'Defenders' and Trent's 'Eagle'. This left him free to attack his target, and the other friendly fighters free to destroy those who challenged them.  
  
Nathan was having a fairly hard time evading yet another dagger that was firing at him. He was trying every evasive manoeuvre he had been taught in an effort to loose his pursuer, but to no avail. As things began to look their most grim, inspiration struck.  
  
Nathan cut his engines and watched as the Outcast overtook him, quickly begging to veer to the left, but not knowing that it was too late.  
  
Nathan opened fire, and the Outcast's fighter rocked as one of its wings was torn off, closely followed by another, which was followed by a final explosion that took out what was left of the ship. Nathan recovered from the shock of his first kill by noticing that two Liberty Rogues had appeared behind him.  
  
As the battle progressed, the pirates began to take steady losses, without even so much as a hull fracture on the friendly vessels. Soon enough, the surviving six Bloodhounds began to retreat.  
  
"So," began Valerie, "they've finally come to their senses. Now this is as it should be."  
  
"This is Lieutenant Kendra Peterson, these Liberty Rogues might us lead us to their home base, all fighters pursue."  
  
Valerie wasn't sure whether or not to feel exited or frightened. The first wave of enemy vessels had gone down easily enough, despite having superior numbers. Logic dictated however, that the Liberty Rogues and their friends the Outcasts would defend their base with everything they had. In spite of her apprehensive feels however, Valerie activated he cruise engines and followed the others in the direction of the fleeing pirates.  
  
Obviously if they followed too closely, the enemy would just scatter so as to protect the location of their base, or wherever it was that they were flying, hence they had to rely on a waypoint which showed the enemies' vector.  
  
"I'm getting something" said one of the LSF officers suddenly.   
  
To be concluded 


	3. Test of character

Thank you once again to Bob Rijke for reviewing. If you go to Freeport Nine in the Omicron Theta system you can see what an Eagle looks like.  
  
Chapter 3: Test of character  
  
There was a seemingly endless pause after the LSF officer had given his report, Valerie's eyes were glued to her contact list with almost religious zeal but she was too far behind for her sensors to register anything.  
  
Her eyes were brought to the view screen when she saw the ships at the front of the group come to an abrupt stop. After a moment of shock she halted her own vessel and checked her contact list once again. What she saw was impossible.  
  
A Liberty battleship, listed as the LNS Valiant was sitting just four kilometres ahead of Valerie and the other ships. It was surrounded by forty Bloodhounds and five Wolfhounds.  
  
"What the hell is going on?" Spoke a quiet voice over the radio.  
  
"This is the Liberty Rogue battleship Valiant." The voice that had appeared on the radio only seconds after the question was filled with smugness, and what sounded like repressed laughter. "You stand no chance against us, lower your shields and prepare to be boarded, or, if you prefer, fight us and die by the hands of your former ship."  
  
The radio fell silent for a moment, after which it was buzzing with various, nervous questions.  
  
"How'd the Liberty Rogues get a battleship?"  
  
"Why weren't we warned about this?"  
  
"What now?"  
  
"Shut up!" Kendra Peterson's voice cut through the others like a knife, "West point group 14 patriot Alpha three, (Mathias' ship), retreat to a safe distance and call for re-enforcements. When you're certain that enough ships are on their way, join the fight, everyone else, let's get 'em."   
  
Mathias fled the scene as the other fighters charged at the wall of Liberty Rogue fighters that were already moving to intercept them. Mathias was furious that he had been ordered to run whilst his friend was fighting for her life; it was all he could do not to turn back round and fight.  
  
"Lucky git" whispered Valerie to herself as she saw Mathias' vessel fly away to safety. This thought was quickly banished however as the enemy fighters entered firing range. She had a much harder time dodging the enemy's fire this time, as did everyone else. In spite of the odds however, the Navy's technological edge remained, and it was this that led to the early deaths of four enemy fighters.  
  
The Navy vessels almost constantly had to dig into their supplies of shield batteries and nanobots. For every enemy ship they destroyed, two more Liberty Rogues seemed to appear behind the ship that had destroyed a pirate.  
  
Valerie tried as best as she could to block out the chatter and screams that plagued the intercom, a single second of distraction could result in a fiery end for her, hence she found herself unusually focused on her duties, until she heard a familiar scream that almost stopped her heart. Janet Carter was dead. Valerie spent a handful of seconds, which to her felt like hours, doing nothing except staring blankly at the view screen; once again, it was a few hits on her shields that brought her back to reality.  
  
Nathan was slightly better then Valerie at blocking out the voices remained in blissful ignorance of Janet Carter's death. His attention was focused on the battleship that was steadily creeping into firing range, once it was close enough, things would get a whole lot tougher.  
  
"Come on Mathias."  
  
Valerie, having recovered as best as she could from the shock of Carter's death, was trying to destroy an unscathed bloodhound while at the same time trying to dodge the two behind her that were firing at her. She had used up her ship's compliment of shield batteries and her supply of Nanobots was dwindling. Her ship rocked as another round of lasers smashed into her hull, forcing her to abandon her previous target. She was not so lucky as to loose her pursuers in the process however. She deployed the three mines that she had left, and as they were harmlessly blown away, Valerie watched as the impossible happened.  
  
The surviving Navy pilots cheered over the radio as the guns of twenty-five Liberty Defenders tore at the Bloodhounds, many of which were destroyed almost instantly, having already received battle damage. Others fled to the Valiant for support.  
  
Valerie stared at her contact list with a mixture of confussion and joy, unable to understand how so many ships had reached the badlands so quickly, as the Valiant came into view however, she suddenly stopped caring. Now was the time for vengeance.  
  
The remaining fighters burned and exploded as Navy fighters dropped in behind them and fired. The Valiant did not have the firepower to defend itself against so many torpedo carrying vessels, and as the last of the Liberty Rogue fighters died, the surviving 39 Liberty fighters opened fire on the battleship with everything they had.  
  
Gun turrets and sections of the hull peeled away from the main body of the ship and incinerated. As the fire from the Valiant became more sporadic, the bright blue explosions that signified torpedo hits became a more and more frequent occurrence. Within minutes, the Valiant was reduced to a crippled mass of metal.  
  
The voice of the Valliant's captain re-appeared on the radio, the smugness seemed to have given way to coughing, and there was no image on the HUD, which suggested that the enemy's communications were damaged.   
  
"You know," it croaked, "I thought this might happen, call me a bad loser if you must but I've set the ships autodestruct to detonate, soon. Also, I made sure that the ship's cargo holds were jammed full of explosive gasses before we left, this ship was meant for a different role, but I won't go into that…"  
  
"Run!" Shouted Kendra Peterson over the radio. Valerie was sceptical at first, this seemed like a trick that would give the Valiant time to escape, but the results of her cargo scan quickly changed her mind however.  
  
"This is Ensign Jennifer Baird, my cruise engines are damaged and I will be unable to escape the blast, good luck to all."  
  
Valerie stared in sudden shock as the distance between her and Jennifer Baird's crippled Defender steadily increased.  
  
"This is Lieutenant Peterson, the battleship is going to explode in a matter of seconds and we barely have enough time to escape the blast radius as it is. Do not attempt to go back for Ensign Baird."  
  
Valerie knew that there was nothing she could do, she even shouted it to herself, but she reversed her course anyway.  
  
"Valerie, what the hell are you doing?" Screamed Mathias  
  
"Get back into formation cadet!" Screamed Peterson.  
  
"I'm sorry Mathias," she replied, "get clear with the others."  
  
Before Mathias could say anything, Valerie shut down her radio and continued towards the defender. Within seconds, she was within tractor beam range.  
  
"Ma'am, eject and I'll tractor you onboard."  
  
"Are you crazy?! Get out of here cadet before…"  
  
"Just do it!" The fire in Valerie's voice, and the realisation that this was her best chance at survival, however slight it may be, got Jennifer Baird moving, within seconds she was in an escape pod in Valerie's cargo hold.  
  
Valerie was able to fly for ten seconds before the Valiant exploded.  
  
"She's waking up." Came a soft, yet at the same time exited voice, which Valerie recognised as Eliza's. Taking a few seconds to wake up properly, and realise where she was, she began to ask questions.  
  
"What…" A sharp pain in her side forced her to stop speaking.  
  
"Easy, you've got some pretty nasty injuries." That voice belonged to Mathias.  
  
What ha…" The same pain cut off Valerie again.  
  
"I think you mean what happened right?" Nathan Remington asked, suddenly appearing on Valerie's right, "well let's see, you saved the life of a naval officer, disobeyed a direct order, got caught in the explosion of a commandeered battleship of all things, are to be given the rank of Lieutenant after graduation and posted onboard the battleship Missouri along with Mathias here, and finally, you're to be given the 'Lone star' for bravery, not bad mate.  
  
Valerie grunted in a mix of amazement, joy and pain that came when she tried to move.  
  
"It was close," Mathias began, "your ship's so badly fucked up that it'll be lucky to avoid getting shoved in the Detroit Debris field. As for yourself, well, I doubt I need say anything. Oh by the way, Jennifer Baird sends her thanks, she'll need a new arm but otherwise she'll be fine."  
  
"Good to hear," groaned Valerie, "how long am I gonna be stuck in the infirmary?"   
  
"Three of your ribs were shattered, and you received a concussion. Not to mention some internal bleeding."  
  
Valerie stared at Eliza in sudden panic,  
  
"Don't worry, they've fixed the worst of it. But it looks like you'll be stuck here for a week at least."  
  
"Fucking hell, staring at these four walls for a week is going to bore me to insanity."  
  
Nathan, who had disappeared from Valerie's sights for a reason that was known only to himself, spontaneously re-appeared in Valerie's line of vision.  
  
"You'll be amused to hear," he began, "that the LSF was able to dig up some information on the Valiant. Apparently, it was decommissioned five years ago; the Liberty Rogues found it, dragged it into the badlands and filled it with ancient parts and equipment so that it was barely flyable. They were planning to fly it into Newark station before we showed up."  
  
Valerie was silent for a few seconds, her semi-conscious mind was having a hard time accepting the information that Nathan was spurting at a ridiculously fast speed, once she realised what his message was, she spoke again.  
  
"And now they're dead. So, anything interesting happen on your trial Eliza?"  
  
"Not really, the Liberty Rogues were somewhat reluctant to show up after they got their arses kicked so thoroughly by you and the others."  
  
Grins broke out on the faces of Valerie, Mathias and Nathan. 'The trial', as it would appear, had succeeded in preparing them for whatever the future held.  
  
"We'll be back first thing in the morning Valerie," Eliza said, placing her hand lightly on Valerie's shoulder, "by the looks of things, you need your rest."   
  
"Goodnight." Said Mathias,  
  
"Sleep well." Followed Nathan as the three walked to the door.  
  
Before Valerie fell asleep, her mind conjured up one final thought,  
  
'That was fun'.  
  
The End. 


End file.
